Drought Status

Drought Status

Drought Status

The Arizona Drought Monitoring Technical Committee confers weekly to advise the U.S. Drought Monitor authors on the current drought conditions in Arizona, and makes recommendations about the position of the drought boundaries for Arizona. The U.S. Drought Monitor is the official record of drought for Federal drought relief claims. Information used by the MTC in advising the Drought Monitor authors includes numerous drought indices, precipitation and stream flow data, and impacts data. Every Thursday, the Drought Status web page automatically updates with the latest U.S. Drought Monitor map of Arizona.

Monthly Drought Status Summary: August 2019

Both July and August have been quite dry across most of the state with isolated showers and thunderstorms. The August short-term drought map reflects the return of drought conditions in Arizona.

The northern two-thirds of Arizona are now either Abnormally Dry (D0) or in Moderate Drought (D1). Only Santa Cruz, Pima and Graham counties remain essentially drought-free as the monsoon has been most active in southern Arizona.

Although El Niño has decayed, there are some weak signals that the next couple of months could be wetter than average across the state. However, above normal rainfall may not amount to a substantial accumulation as Arizona enters a drier time of year.

At the end of each month, the MTC produces the web-based, short-term drought status update based on U.S. Drought Monitor's maps for the past four weeks. An email with the latest map and summary is sent to interested parties.

Quarterly Drought Status Update: April - June 2019

Precipitation in May and June led to further reduction of long-term drought conditions across the State.

Groundwater levels have risen in some fast response basins, particularly in central and southern Cochise County, while other basins are slower to recharge and continue to be low.

The Salt and Verde reservoir levels have increased significantly this year as runoff kept flowing downstream longer than in previous years. In addition, reservoirs on the Colorado River Basin are seeing significant inflows. Once the monsoon activity begins, there may be additional runoff into Arizona’s reservoirs, depending on the nature of the storms.

While this winter was significantly wetter than the last, it will take several consecutive years of above-average precipitation to overcome the deficits of the long-term drought.

A dry weather pattern will persist through the early summer with fewer than usual thunderstorms throughout the State in July. Typical summer monsoon conditions, characterized by highly variable precipitation patterns and scattered thunderstorm activity, will likely return for the second half of the summer.

This report was prepared by the Arizona Drought Monitoring Technical Committee, July 5, 2019. Arizona's long-term drought status map is updated quarterly and the next update in early January will reflect the conditions of October, November and December. The long-term drought status for each watershed is determined by comparing the precipitation and streamflow percentiles for the past 24, 36 and 48 months to a 40-year historical record.